OAKLAND, Calif. -- The Golden State Warriors fired assistant general manager Pete D'Alessandro on Friday and replaced him with assistant coach Larry Riley in another sign of big trouble for Chris Mullin, the club's top basketball executive.

In Mullin's first five years of running the team, D'Alessandro had been his trusted lieutenant in the basketball operations department. But D'Alessandro might soon be followed out the door by Mullin, who is losing a power struggle with team president Robert Rowell.

Riley, who will leave the Warriors' bench immediately to focus on his new job, has two decades of NBA experience in various positions with four teams. He had been a Golden State assistant coach since Don Nelson returned to the franchise as coach in 2006.

The Warriors were 2-3 heading into Friday night's game against Memphis. Last season's team missed the playoffs despite winning 48 games, the most by a non-playoff club in at least a quarter-century.

Nelson agreed to a two-year, $12 million contract extension through 2011 last month. The 68-year-old coach insists he's still on good terms with Mullin, who played for Nelson in the pair's first stint with Golden State.

Instead, the fight is between Mullin and Rowell, the longtime right-hand man of Chris Cohan, the Warriors' much-criticized owner. The Warriors' internal trouble became public when Mullin and Rowell clashed over the summer on two major decisions.

Rowell first overruled Mullin's plan to give a contract extension to point guard Baron Davis, who then opted out of his remaining contract and signed with the Los Angeles Clippers. Rowell then sharply rebuked Mullin while announcing a 30-game suspension without pay for guard Monta Ellis, who injured his leg in a motorized scooter accident just a few weeks after signing a six-year, $66 million contract.

Mullin and Nelson apparently wanted to let the incident slide without publicly embarrassing the guard, who's expected to be the centerpiece of the offense when he returns.

Rowell, who has never played or coached basketball, has risen from a job as the club's assistant controller to the presidency, and now he appears to have Cohan's approval to usurp Mullin's power in basketball decisions.

Mullin, the four-time NBA All-Star and the Warriors' franchise leader in games played, was hand-picked by Cohan to become an executive in 2002. Mullin didn't immediately return a phone call seeking comment.

In Mullin's tenure, Golden State traded for Davis, hired Nelson and finally reached the playoffs for the first time in 13 years in 2007, even engineering a historic first-round upset of the top-seeded Dallas Mavericks.

Am I crazy for wanting the team to fire Mullin RIGHT NOW and get over this mess already?.

I mean, if the plan is to let him go at season's end, we're gonna have this soap opera in place for the rest of the season. Wouldn't it be a better choice to fire Mullin now and name his replacement (Larry Riley or whoever gets the GM title) right now?. What's the point of waiting til the end of the year if the decision is already taken?.

TMC wrote:Am I crazy for wanting the team to fire Mullin RIGHT NOW and get over this mess already?.

I mean, if the plan is to let him go at season's end, we're gonna have this soap opera in place for the rest of the season. Wouldn't it be a better choice to fire Mullin now and name his replacement (Larry Riley or whoever gets the GM title) right now?. What's the point of waiting til the end of the year if the decision is already taken?.

I know what your saying man, in terms of the drama not being around and what not............god knows we have had enough of it in the last 5 months.

But I just cant bare to say that because I really dont want Mullin gone, and I am just hoping that something is going to change.........I dont know what that is and it doesnt look very likely but Im just not ready accept losing Mully.

It's not easy to be as mysterious as Chris Cohan, the Warriors' invisible owner, but Robert Rowell comes pretty close. All we really know about him is that he runs the show, and he's ruthless, and he's about to run a good man out the door.

It takes a particularly vicious nature to stage a personal vendetta against Chris Mullin, but Rowell has managed. He's on a big-time power trip, spinning wildly beyond all reason. And so we stand today in defense of Mullin - not as a front-office genius, but someone who at least deserves respect.

If Rowell really wants someone else in Mullin's seat as executive vice president of basketball operations - and that is now painfully obvious - he could have shown some class, quietly letting Mullin's contract expire at season's end. He could talk about "a new direction" or "philosophical differences" and let Mullin walk away with some dignity.

Instead, Rowell has chosen to portray Mullin as a clown. In announcing punishment for Monta Ellis, Rowell made sure to publicly ridicule Mullin's stance - which was the correct one, by the way (to show some compassion toward Ellis and maintain his good relationship with the club). He overruled Mullin in the Baron Davis negotiations, and appears to have done so again in offering Stephen Jackson a contract extension. Now he has fired Mullin's right-hand man, assistant general manager Pete D'Alessandro, and replaced him with Don Nelson's closest confidant in the organization, assistant coach Larry Riley.

What the hell happened between Nelson and Mullin? That remains unclear. It's always possible that D'Alessandro committed a serious breach of acceptable behavior. What Rowell has done, though - aside from giving himself a full-page photo on page 5 of the Warriors' media guide - is create the public perception that the Warriors' front office is in complete turmoil. That's the truth, as it turns out, but it comes without that magic touch called finesse.

Although Rowell had final say on money matters, Mullin orchestrated the lamentable contracts for Adonal Foyle, Troy Murphy and Mike Dunleavy. The Mike Montgomery call was an abysmal failure. Nobody was too thrilled over draft picks Ike Diogu and Patrick O'Bryant. But aside from Nelson's obvious influence, the Warriors became a relevant franchise for four reasons: Davis, Jackson, Ellis and Andris Biedrins (with plenty of help from holdover mainstay Jason Richardson). Mullin was at the heart of those decisions. He'll go down as the executive who pulled Golden State out of the doldrums after 13 years of disgrace.

If Rowell wants change, that's his right. It's just a shame his ego is the real story here. When Mullin walks into his office this afternoon, he can expect his desk to be gone. Tomorrow, the drapes. Suddenly, Rowell won't be a mystery at all. The public will know he's behind every move the Warriors make. Good luck on that one, Robert. You'll be accountable for every mistake.